The Ancient Person We Know Most About
A video on YouTube. In History, a Krater category.
Watch on YouTubeSummary by Krater
This video examines the survival rate of ancient Greco-Roman literature and historical figures, comparing the literary records of statesmen, emperors, and writers like Cicero and Saint Augustine.
From the video
Answers: How much of ancient Greco-Roman literature and historical writing actually survived?
- ancient Greco-Roman literature survival
- historical sources and records
- Cicero's works and letters
- Saint Augustine's writings
- Marcus Aurelius meditations
What it concludes
- Most non-elite ancient lives passed without written notice and the few records made have mostly vanished.
- We know most about people who featured prominently in extant literary sources, such as authors who included autobiographical information in their works.
- Even at the highest political level, literary sources for emperors like Trajan are surprisingly scanty.
- Cicero's surviving speeches, treatises, and thousands of letters provide an unusually detailed look into his life and mind.
- Saint Augustine's extensive surviving works, including his 252 books and 400 sermons, total nearly 5.5 million words, far surpassing Cicero's output and making Augustine the best-documented ancient person.
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